Thank you to all of the neighbors, business owners, and elected officials who came out for our 2nd monthly “Coffee and Hard Hats” meeting for the Downtown Project. Here is a brief recap for those who did not attend:
- Liberty Utilities will begin replacing their older gas mains in Central Square on Monday, July 13th. The first week will entail laying out the work, cutting and removing pavement, and other prep work. Traffic impacts should be limited to the travel lane closest to the parking spaces on the west side of Central Square between Court Street and West Street. Parking on this side of the square will be affected during the day, but most of the spaces will be available after 5:00 PM.
- Casella Construction expects to begin work on or about July 27th. Details to follow.
During the meeting, attendees asked what would become of all the perennial plants currently planted throughout the Downtown. The City’s Highway Division and Parks & Recreation Department plan to transplant as much as possible. Some of them will find new homes immediately in City Parks. The rest will be placed in a temporary nursery until a suitable location can be found.
We also received a request to mark the trees that will be removed, so that the public could see how many of the existing trees will remain. DPW staff will work on doing that next week.
Finally, we discussed the evolution of the project design over time. For folks who are interested in the history of the project, ideas that were discussed and rejected, and the public input that led us to the current scope of work, all of the relevant documents are available on the City’s website: Downtown Project History and Documents – City of Keene.
As always, please reach out to either George Downing or if you have any questions about this project, or call Public Works at (603) 352-6550.
